Consumer action sure as hell isn't the solution to our environmental woes, but it's probably necessary to get there.

Concerning bamboo and hemp, problem is there is so much waste in the wood industry that it will take a long time to diversify. As is, even wood pulp is used in many things. The wood veneer, plywood, cardboard, even paper is made from wood pulp. Most of the later two get thrown away after the first use.

That's not even mentioning plastics of all types.

It costs a lot of money to switch. In a hard economy that's basically out of the question.

only if it is mass action, the problem is that many consumers rely on the actions of others in deciding whether to make sustainable choices themselves

When I bought a book about industrial hemp in the late 1990s, it was printed on hemp, and front and back covers seemed of very low quality with less longevity than I was used to with normal paper-bound books ... I was disappointed, because at that time I was already WANTING to drink the Kool-Aid

Moreover both hemp and cannabis have significant WATER requirements, I'm not convinced that hemp is a genuine replacement to SUSTAINABLE forestry and lowering human population ... it's certain a terrible crop for drought-stricken areas and competing with NATIVE plants for limited water

Cutting trees for wood and paper isn't so much of a problem as cutting trees to have yet more land to raise beef (hello, Brazil), or cutting trees for wood without any thought to the next harvest, or illegally logging national parks in Romania to make cheap Ikea furniture that falls on and kills toddlers easily and is ultimately disposable furniture

It would be nice to change mindsets of daft details like bleaching coffee filters and tissue, there's no reason for those to be white, or to involve chemicals to make them white

But as far as switching markets from option A to option B, I think one useful factor is to just give industry advanced notice, like California telling everyone today that several years from now sales of new petrol-burning cars will be prohibited